Assistant district attorney dismissed

MURFREESBORO – A Rutherford County assistant district attorney was fired earlier this week after a verbal altercation with a judge during a rape trial in September.

ADA Laural Hemenway said she was fired after Judge Keith Siskin filed an official complaint about her behavior in the courtroom.

Hemenway had been with the DA's office since 1999, first as a domestic-violence prosecutor and then as a crimes-against-children prosecutor. As lead prosecutor in child abuse-and child sexual-abuse cases, she had a 95 percent conviction rate over her career, according to DNJ archives.

Siskin has sat the bench for 10 years, first as a magistrate in Juvenile Court before being appointed to Circuit Court in 2012. Earlier this year he was re-elected unopposed to an eight-year term. In September he was selected as presiding judge of the Sixteenth Judicial District in Rutherford and Cannon Counties.

Requests for comment were made to District Attorney Jennings Jones and Siskin.

Siskin declined to comment, citing the rules of judicial conduct. Jones did not respond by press time.

The disagreement occurred Sept. 18 after Hemenway violated an order from Siskin that prompted the judge to call a mistrial, according to the complaint filed by Siskin with the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility.

The case involved Christopher Hernandez, who was standing trial for multiple counts of rape of a child, aggravated sexual battery and solicitation for rape of a child. Hernandez was indicted by the grand jury in 2013.

He was arrested April 4, 2013, in Nashville by the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office with help from the Metro Nashville Police Department.

According to Siskin's complaint, the judge and attorneys had agreed during a pre-lunch conference without the jury present that Hernandez's past arrest was off limits.

After lunch, Hemenway specifically asked Hernandez about the arrest in front of the jury, prompting Siskin to call a mistrial, according to Siskin's complaint.

When Siskin announced his decision, Hemenway accused him of sexism, he said in his complaint, adding that his courtroom was a "hostile environment for a female."

Siskin then filed the ethics complaint with the Tennessee Board of Professional Responsibility and took the issue to District AttorneyJones.

Jones then offered Hemenway the chance to resign, she said. She refused and was fired Tuesday.

In response to the complaint, Hemenway sent a letter to Jones accusing him of ignoring her requests for help during the trial and a pending workers' compensation claim.

"I do not believe that the reason you gave for firing me is valid," Hemenway said in the letter dated Oct. 7. "I believe I am being terminated because of my age, my health issues and because I expressed my feelings when asked by the judge about sexual discrimination."

On the same day Hemenway was fired, Rutherford County Circuit Court cases were reassigned. Judge Royce Taylor was assigned criminal cases while Siskin took over the civil case load. As a criminal prosecutor, Hemenway would have been moved out of Siskin's court.

On Wednesday, The DNJ filed a Freedom of Information Act request to the Rutherford County Human Resources Department for Hemenway's personnel record. It has yet to be filled.

Inquiries into the Board of Professional Responsibility and the Board of Judicial Conduct provided little information. Complaints against judges and attorneys are confidential in Tennessee; only disciplinary actions are public record.

James Vick with the BPR could only confirm Hemenway has never been disciplined by the board.

Likewise Timothy R. Discenza with the BJC confirmed Siskin had never been disciplined.

Contact Michelle Willard at 615-278-5164 or mwillard@dnj.com. Follow her on Twitter @MichWillard.